The World Race participants are asked to write our story of how we were called to go on this mission trip. Here is my testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness and persistence in this process.
First, working as a short-term missionary has been a desire that’s been on my heart to some extent since I graduated from college in 2003. I think my initial desire came as a result of the excitement of the unknown adventure that comes to my mind when I think about mission work. However, I know the reality of a mission trip is very different than what was in my mind at that time. It’s going to be unfamiliar, heart-wrenching, and just plain hard work. However, it’s the Lord’s work. That’s what is different now and why I want to go. I’m not really going to see the world or to be on an adventure. Those feelings will quickly be destroyed by the reality of the work. Instead, the Lord has raised up a desire in me to no longer be naive to some of the needs and hurts of the lost. The lost are here in the US too, but the needs of those I will see face to face in a few short months will be very different. The Lord is calling me to an experience in which I’ll no longer be able to say that I didn’t know the world was hurting so badly and in desperate need of Christ. Therefore, to some extent, Christ led me to go on this trip through the desire of seeing and experiencing a more complete picture of who he is in my life as I completely depend on him and who he is and how he’s already at work all over the world. I want him to use me. I want to join him in the work he is already doing and share those experiences with others as a testimony that we follow and serve a God who loves people of every tribe, nation, and tongue.
mission trip to Juarez, Mexico in March of 2007
The Lord has led me here in ways that are much easier to understand as well. A good friend of mine from Wartburg has been on this trip twice. Sharing in those experiences through her blog and our conversations before she left and after she returned really helped me gain a level of trust in this program. We first talked over two years ago, and the Lord hasn’t let me forget about it. There were many times over the last two years as I finished graduate school when I thought it would be best to go the more conventional route and quickly secure a job and get started on a career. However, it became evident this summer that he has something a little different for me in 2010.
Finally, it would be a mistake to write how I was called and not mention how the Lord has faithfully answered my prayers about this. Desires and conversations are often used by the Lord to lead people, but I wanted to make sure I was accurately discerning his voice in my life before I was fully committed to this trip. After praying about it and seeing the evidence of answered prayer throughout the summer, I am confident of his leading and am a willing follower.
